Rags to riches used car tycoon says he was wrongfully sacked from own business over offensive comments

A multimillionaire rags-to-riches motor trade tycoon is suing, claiming he was wrongfully sacked from his own £200m business after being accused of a series of offensive comments towards colleagues.

Peter Waddell, 59, who went from being a homeless teenager on the streets of Glasgow to amassing an estimated £500m fortune as boss of Kent-based used car empire Big Motoring World, says he is the victim of a “meticulous plan”.

He said that those connected to a private investment fund that bought out a third of his business sidelined him in order to “strip” out and pocket tens of millions.

The entrepreneur, who went from living on the street to owning a London mansion recently listed for £23.5m and a fleet of luxury cars, sold a third share of his Big Motoring World Group companies to private equity firm Freshstream for £72m in 2022, as part of a move on his part to spend less time working and more with his family.

But in April 2024, Mr Waddell says the investors were behind a successful bid to oust him as chief executive and seize control of his business.

The tycoon, personally and through one of his other companies, Peter Waddell Holdco Ltd, is now suing, seeking to get himself reinstated as boss and wrest control of the group of companies back from Freshstream and senior staff whom he says are working in its interests and against that of the business.

He claims that there has been a deliberate plot to sideline him and “strip value” from the formerly thriving business, which he says is now nosediving in his absence.

He also claims his disabilities, including dyslexia, deafness and autistic spectrum disorder, were ignored during the internal disciplinary process, which ended in his removal, rendering it void.

But Freshstream is defending the case through its “vehicle” Bluebell Cars Holding Ltd, claiming that it moved legitimately to remove Mr Waddell from the helm of the business after a series of allegations of unacceptable sexist, racist and abusive comments towards colleagues were found to be proven.

Mr Waddell has an astonishing rags-to-riches story, being taken into care at a children’s home in Fairlie, North Ayrshire, aged four and living rough on the streets of Glasgow as a teenager before moving to London and becoming a taxi driver.

From a base in Teynham, Kent, he went on to build Big Motoring World, Britain’s second biggest second-hand car empire, selling 60,000 motors a year, and is now worth around £500m after branching out into property and haulage.

His Grade-I listed 56-room mansion, Holwood House near Bromley, Kent, was put on the market at £23.5m last year, and Mr Waddell has reportedly built an identical pile on Spain’s billionaire’s row in Puerto Banus, where neighbours include Novak Djokovic and Simon Cowell.

Holwood House is steeped in history and boasts a swimming pool complex, two gyms, a cinema, music room and tennis court, and is set in 50 acres of parkland.

But the tycoon’s life was thrown into turmoil when he was removed as the boss of his business in April 2024, after an internal investigation found he had made sexist, racist and abusive comments towards colleagues – allegations that he contests.

The businessman now claims private equity firm Freshstream, which owns a third of Big Motoring World Group, drove the “unfair” investigation and took advantage of his disabilities to kick him out of his company.

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Alan Gourgey KC, for Mr Waddell, told the court in his written submissions that Freshstream, as part of its investment, had a contractual right to eventually buy out the rest of the company and also a right to “step in” and remove Mr Waddell from the helm of the business under certain circumstances.

Bluebell Cars Holding Ltd claims that after a series of complaints of misconduct by staff relating to Mr Waddell making racist, sexist or offensive statements, the “step-in” clause was triggered and it was entitled to remove him and bring in new management.

But Mr Gourgey told judge Mr Justice Marcus Smith at the High Court that the removal was unjustified and the procedure used to remove him was unfair.

“These proceedings concern a group of companies in which the majority shareholder is the petitioner, a company owned by Mr Peter Waddell, and the minority shareholder is a vehicle of a private equity group called Freshstream, the investor,” he said.

“The proceedings arise out of the actions of the investor in March and April 2024, ousting Mr Waddell from his position as director and CEO of the Big Group, and taking control of the Big Group themselves.

“The business was developed and built up by Mr Waddell over a period of over 30 years, starting from around 1990.”

Mr Waddell explains in his witness statement his very difficult childhood in the early years, including the abuse he suffered and his transfer to a care home.

“This was followed by a period of poverty, homelessness and even imprisonment. He lacked any formal education. From these extraordinarily difficult beginnings, he slowly built up one of the most successful car supermarket businesses."

By April 2022, the business employed around 600 employees with an annual turnover in excess of £370.96m and generated profits of £4.66m.

“The investor ... wanted to gain control of the business. The plan as it developed to do so without exercising the option [to buy the whole company] was to exercise step-in rights ... to suspend and then remove Mr Waddell from his position as director and from his position as CEO.

“The meticulous plan was implemented on 7 March 2024 ... Mr Waddell was suspended,” the barrister said, adding that he went on to be removed after an internal disciplinary process.

Detailing some of the allegations, the barrister said: “Mr Waddell referred to people of Asian ethnicity as ‘Hyundais’, including in front of Laurence Vaughan, when stating that he had ‘Asian friends’. I call them Hyundais, I do.”

In response to that, he told the court: “Mr Waddell recalls once telling Mr Vaughan a story about his friend Mr Malhotra and explaining that he struggled to pronounce ‘Hindu’ as a result of his dyslexia, and instead thought Mr Malhotra said ‘Hyundai’ when talking about his culture and his religion.”

“Mr Malhotra’s evidence is that he tried to teach Mr Waddell how to pronounce the word 'Hindu' multiple times but he kept mispronouncing it. He did not think there was anything derogatory about it and has made fun of Mr Waddell for this a few times.”

Another allegation relates to him being accused of making offensive comments to a female cleaner.

Of this, the barrister said: “Mr Waddell’s evidence is that he had a joking relationship with [the cleaner] and would trade banter with her. She would say to him, 'You’ve got a fat belly’. She said to him, ‘If it gets towed, I’ll just marry you because you get your girlfriends nice cars’.

“He thinks he said something like, ‘Well I’m a married man, but I’ll bet you’d like to have sex with me as well’. He does not remember saying ‘I bet you’d like to suck my d**k’ but cannot be sure. If he did, he regrets saying. [The cleaner’s] evidence is that the comment that she alleges was made was clearly meant as a joke, that is how she took it and she did not take any offence, or feel threatened by it.”

Mr Gourgey is arguing that in light of his disabilities, the procedure used to remove Mr Waddell was invalid and unfair, calling it "a Kafkaesque process".

He also complains that his request for an appeal against dismissal to be handled by an independent investigator was refused.

He told the court that Mr Waddell is seeking reinstatement and the removal of the directors appointed to replace him at the helm of the business.

He also wants £375,000 for wrongful dismissal and an order that "the investor sell their shares [to him] ... at a fair value with a discount to be applied."

"The petitioner’s case is that, from a very early stage in Freshstream’s consideration of investing in the Big Group, Freshstream had firmly in mind how it might ensure that it achieved a minimum 1.45 return from its proposed investment."

“It wished to be able to achieve its return simply by stripping the value of assets out of the business as opposed to making distributions generated from profits actually generated by the performance of the business."

“The intention of Freshstream, from the outset of the potential investment, to use control rights to cash strip the assets of the group in the event that it did not consider that its primary goal of sale [of the business for a profit] was achievable.

"A plan was hatched to oust Mr Waddell from the business through these means. Needless to say, all this took place behind Mr Waddell’s back.

"There is an implied obligation that any exercise of the investor’s discretion will be taken proportionately, in good faith, for proper purposes and not in an arbitrary, capricious or irrational manner," the barrister said.

"The petitioner’s submissions, which will be developed after the benefit of having heard the live evidence, is that there were no grounds for summary dismissal of Mr Waddell as the alleged conduct either did not occur at all, or did not occur in a manner that constituted gross misconduct by Mr Waddell.

"He went on to claim that Big Motoring World Group is not being run by those now in charge in the interests of the business.

"Whilst the Big Group was hugely profitable under the management of Mr Waddell, its performance significantly deteriorated under the management of [the new chairman] and the FS-controlled board," the barrister said.

"There is no question that the business has suffered considerable financial loss in 2025. The management accounts for 2025 show a loss after tax of £8,330,604.

"To put matters in perspective, the profit and loss account for the year 2023 was at £1.75m.

"In 2022, the gross profit after tax of the Big Group was at £8,573,653 and in 2021, the Big Group had a profit after tax of circa £13m."

He added that consumer complaints have soared since 2024 and that the business’s Trustpilot and Google review scores have plummeted since Mr Waddell was ousted.

"Big Group’s performance has performed disastrously since Mr Waddell’s exclusion from management. It is clear that had he remained in control, he would have steered the business in a very different direction and the business would have been profitable.”

Accusing Freshstream of "unfairly prejudicial conduct", the barrister said: "It is submitted that the investor is continuing to prioritise its own collateral interests in these proceedings over the objective interests of the business in the (mistaken) belief that it can simply take the cash from the assets of the business to ultimately achieve a return on its investment."

He also told the court that Big Motoring World Group has to date spent £10m in the litigation against Mr Waddell since he was ousted.

The hearing continues.